Marketing Terrorism

On November 10, 2018, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) held a rally to mark the anniversary of the founding of the organization and the death of its founded, Fathi Shqaqi. The rally was held in a large hall in al-Bireh where a recorded speech by Ziyad al-Nakhalah, the newly elected PIJ leader, was played. Read more...

On September 5, 2018, the anniversary of the terrorist attack at the 1972 Munich Olympics was marked, in which 11 Israelis were murdered. The Fatah Movement, which carried out the terrorist attack, mentioned the anniversary of the event in posts posted on its official Facebook pages. These posts glorified the attack (“a high-quality military operation”) and praised its perpetrators. Read more...

On August 22, 2018, ISIS’s Al-Furqan Media Foundation released a 55-minute audiotape of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. This is Al-Baghdadi’s first statement since the previous audiotape, which was released in September 2017, in which Al-Baghdadi called on ISIS’s supporters to carry out terrorist attacks against the West and continue fighting in Iraq, Syria and other provinces. Read more...

An examination of the new textbooks issued by the PA shows they continue expressing, and in some instances by radicalizing, the same basic principles that appeared in previous textbooks: the delegitimizing of the State of Israel, demonizing the State of Israel, encouraging violence against it and an absence of education for peace. The books, which are strongly hostile to Israel and the Jewish people, are also used by UNRWA-run school, half of whose budget is devoted to education Read more...

On July 14, 2018, the central committee of Hamas' summer camps in the Gaza Strip held a press conference to announce the opening of its summer camps. The theme this year is "I am returning to my homeland," inspired by the "return marches." Aspects of the marches have been integrated into camp activities, including launching balloons, throwing stones, collecting tires and glorifying the shaheeds killed during the "marches." Read more...

During the “return march” on June 29, 2018, a group of boys tried to sabotage the barbed wire fence east of Khan Younes, near the security fence, probably in preparation for an attempt to break into Israeli territory. One of the group members, Yasser Abu al-Naja, a boy aged 13 (or 14), was killed during the attempt to sabotage the barbed wire fence. The dead boy is the son of Amjad Abu al-Naja, senior operative in Hamas’s military wing in Khan Younes, and a member of a clan which produced Hamas and Fatah terrorist operatives. Read more...

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Marketing Terrorism

Terrorist organizations around the world have successfully exploited the media revolution of the past decade. They use state-of-the-art communications technologies to market terrorism to large target audiences around the world, disseminate their threats, promote their activities and recruit sympathizers and supporters. By marketing terrorism, they try to shape public opinion and influence the global political and media agenda.

One of the tools used extensively for marketing terrorism is the Internet. The Internet is an ideal means for marketing terrorism: it is decentralized, it cannot be controlled or restricted, it is not censored, and all those who wish to do so have access to it. From the perspective of terrorist organizations, their special structure makes communication via the Internet even more important and useful. The loose and fluid network of squads, units and sub-groups, which is characteristic of modern terrorist organizations, makes the Internet an ideal and essential tool for marketing terrorism and for communication between and within terrorist groups.

The use of the Internet for marketing terrorism, especially social networks, enables organizations to market terrorism and its messages without censorship restrictions, using the freedom of expression law, bypassing geographical barriers and evading the difficulties posed by various governments. Marketing terrorism through the Internet makes it possible to achieve several goals, including: to provide an explanation and justification for terrorist acts; to collect and transmit information; to empower the organization’s capabilities and shape its image; to recruit and train operatives and more.

Global jihad organizations, Hezbollah, and Hamas are salient examples of terrorist organizations that have had the wisdom to take advantage of the media revolution for terrorism marketing purposes. These organizations make extensive use of the media for terrorism marketing purposes in addition to terrorist activity on the ground.